Survivors recount horror of Corentyne minibus smash-up

Two survivors of last Friday’s horrific Corentyne Highway minibus crash, which left 18 injured and two dead, are recounting the terrifying moments leading up to the tragedy and the emotional and physical toll that continues to haunt them days later.
Dead are 16-year-old student Jodea Seline and Jerome Bernard, a teacher who was driving.
Among the injured was 20-year-old teacher Jaden Harte, who has since been discharged from the hospital but is still struggling to walk without assistance. Also speaking out is Abolia George, the mother of 13-year-old survivor Sodia George, who is now home but showing worrying signs of trauma and memory loss.
Harte, who suffered a head injury, chest trauma, and multiple cuts, said the incident has left her barely able to move without help.
“It has affected me in multiple ways… It’s hard to get up by myself and do certain stuff by myself. It’s very traumatising because every time I close my eyes, I’m back there,” she said.

Even being on the road now triggers severe anxiety.
“When I was coming home the day I got discharged, I was trembling… It’s something very hard to understand and wrap yourself around.”
Harte recalled that the students and teachers had just finished a sports activity and were heading home when the crash occurred. She was seated in the front beside the driver, 31-year-old Jerome Bernard, who later died.
“I was very anxious,” she remembered. “I marked the register to ensure that all the girls were present… We even had a few extras from different schools we were taking home.”
After a brief stop for ice cream and food, the bus headed toward Number 63 Village. Harte said she recalled bending down to retrieve her charger, which kept falling.

“One of the persons who were conscious told me we were gearing up to overtake two vehicles. And while we were gearing up, someone chased three big cars in front of us. The driver pulled the handbrakes and tried to swerve but couldn’t take control of the bus,” she recounted.
“By the time it was too late, we began to flip… I could recall like seven times. I passed through the front windshield while others passed through different windows.”
She lost consciousness but remembers someone pouring water on her to revive her. Following that, she searched frantically for students, including 16-year-old Jodea Seline, who died in the crash.
“The first person I ran to was Jodea… She didn’t have no pulse,” Harte said quietly, pausing repeatedly as emotion overcame her.
She also recalled seeing the driver fatally injured.
“The condition that I saw him, I knew in my heart he wouldn’t have made it… He was just like an empty vessel.”
Surviving such a crash has forced her to reflect, “I feel like I’m here for a purpose… Who gets to walk out of something of that manner, sitting in front?”
She hopes to return to teaching eventually but says the emotional journey will be long.
“To go to work and not see both of them… And to see the children that were injured, it’s going to be hard. But in time, I believe I’ll be able to deal with some of it.”

Instant shock and fear
Meanwhile, for Abolia George, the news of the crash brought instant shock and fear. Her daughter, 13-year-old Sodia George, was among the injured students rushed to the hospital.
“When the teacher called me, I left shock,” she said.
“I can’t even move at the same time. I had to call my daughter to go to the hospital.”
Throughout the frantic moments, she prayed.
“We pray to God for the rest of the children… The feeling is not good when anything bad happens.”
Despite her fear, she said she had a mother’s intuition that her daughter would survive.
“My feelings tell me she’s okay,” she added.
Since returning home, however, Sodia has shown signs of memory issues and trauma.
“She says she doesn’t go back to a normal tour… And in the car, the guy drives very slow,” her mother explained.
“Sometimes she remembers, sometimes she doesn’t… If she drinks juice, she forgets her money. She puts it down, then asks me, ‘Ma, where is my money?’ The shock is still there.”
George said she is simply grateful her daughter made it out alive.
“I thank God, you know. When I hear the news – six dead, eight, five…you get frustrated, and you start praying.”
Nevertheless, both survivors said recovery, physically and mentally, will be an uphill battle. Harte admits she does not feel safe leaving home. George fears the long-term impact on her daughter’s well-being.